Negative Post on Facebook About New Nurses - I'm Fired Up!

[DisneyNurseGal, BSN, RN]

I'm a little upset about something I read on Facebook tonight. Let me start by saying, I usually take things with a grain of salt when it comes to Facebook, but something about this has rubbed me the wrong way. This post comes from an "experienced" nurse and self-proclaimed DON. My issue is not with the care the pts loved one received, but how this nurse vented her feelings towards all new nurses.

Let's all save ourselves the aggravation and debate and agree that what happened to the patient is wrong, and does not work in a culture where Zero Harm should be the goal; however, to say "New nurses are coming out with an insufferable, know-it-all attitude, and overconfident in their skills. New nurses, you're pissing this veteran off". Wait what did just read??? Surely ALL new nurses do not fit this mold, and to assume all new nurses are this way is just wrong.

She also goes on to say "You're the reason I won't hire a nurse with less than three years in the field. I would have fired you for this, and the two nurses before you for patient negligence. I've fired people over less. I hold my nurses to my personal standard, and that bar is set high, ladies and gentlemen. Shame on this nurse. I am embarrassed to call her a member of my noble profession. "

I get it, she's upset, her family member was hurt, but to say that she won't hire new nurses and that these three nurses should be embarrassed to nurses is WRONG. She has forgotten what it is like to go to work everyday terrified that because she is a new nurse she might kill someone. WE ARE ALL HUMAN, mistakes will be made; however, we need the experienced nurses to teach, and to guide and mentor the next generation. Maybe that is what is wrong with that ICU unit is that there isn't a good training program. This is not what I want the public to think about nurses. We should be team members, build each other up, because if one of us falls we all should. Shame on her... I am embarrassed to call her a member of my noble profession.

[jadelpn, LPN, EMT-B]

This obviously was a vent and a post that screams anger.

And not the most professional way to change practice going forward.

But I do think the bottom line is that one of the most important things that any nurse at bedside needs to be consistent in doing is assessing. And speaks to ratios, speaks to speedy orientations to get a warm body on the floor, and speaks to lack of resources--if you are on your 4th IV attempt, then there needs to be resources used.

I think that the crux of this is any nurse smirking and walking away when a family member (nurse or not) has a valid observation that causes the patient harm. This family member (who happens to be a nurse) should have never been in the position to be unattended in the room as she was observed ripping at things, and running around the unit looking for scissors. This is a huge red flag to say the least, and one that the charge nurse needs to mediate.

Further, this patient ends up with compartment syndrome, nerve damage, or other permanent disability it can be the bleed vs. lack of circulation to arm....one could argue that inaccurate BP's could lead to further damage as far as the bleed--LOTS of things. That are all a big giant risk management nightmare.

But the final responsibility lies in not ideal education, training, mentoring, or orienting. And that is on the powers that be. And unfortunately, the family member is between a rock and a hard place as patient privacy would preclude a lot of what occurred, (including her photos) but at the same time as a nurse has an ethical responsibility.

Hopefully, going forward, a remediation will occur. Hopefully, going forward this facility decides that ICU is a specialty that takes a good nursing foundation. And most importantly, hopefully, going forward this patient will regain full function.

[applesxoranges, BSN, RN]

In her post I saw on my facbeook page, she came off as not trying to throw out her experience and come off as super nurse but then at the bottom she's like "I'm a director of nursing! I am super nurse." Like her whole "I'm not a super nurse thing" was changed with her actual words of: (This is also why I'm a DON now. Stick that in your pipe and smoke it.). How mature is that? Who would want a DON that would post something like that. I tried to look up her name on her state's BON to see if she really is a nurse but you need the last four of the social security number.

Nurses who make posts like that are treading on thin water in my opinion. We had a student nurse who made a post and unfortunately, we have video evidence basically showing she and the person are crazy. (as in time frame the student claims is impossible. Think 15 minutes vs 3 hours. That student is a special kind of crazy and basically eliminated a ton of potential future jobs (half the hospitals in the city) based on her actions. The student tried to back pedal but it didn't work.

Also, she seems to have forgotten to put the DON job on her Linkedin page...

[Jensmom7, BSN, RN]

I tried to look up her name on her state's BON to see if she really is a nurse but you need the last four of the social security number.

Also, she seems to have forgotten to put the DON job on her Linkedin page...

License lookup is public information; the SS number is an optional parameter in case there are multiple people with the same name.

She is a real RN, however she's been licensed since 2010. She claims to have 14 years of experience over the RN with 1 year.

Not exactly sure what that other 9 years of experience could have been.

She's a NOLA native, talked in another post about her hurricane Katrina experience, so she most likely hasn't been licensed outside of Louisiana.

She actually has 2 entries in the license look-up. One has her license number prefaced by RN. The other has a different number, prefaced by EN. They both have the same date of first issued: 12/7/2010. A superficial search didn't tell me what "EN" stands for, frankly I'm not that interested.

So, while she's an RN, she's probably blowing smoke about her experience and ability. She also comes off as a royal *****.

You would think that someone who Knows All The Things as she seems to would realize how easily employers (and just bored, nosy people like me lol) can find out so much information with a quick Google search.

[applesxoranges, BSN, RN]

She was actually licensed in the early 2000s but transferred her license from other states. I did find her on LinkedIn and then from one of the states had a link to a nursys look up. Her other licenses were under a different last name. I think Mississippi was one of them. I don't know about 14 years but at least 12. She did have a Cali license under a different name.

[dishes, BSN, RN]

The facebook poster's assumption that it was ok for her to talk about her sister-in-law's healthcare shows questionable understanding of patient privacy laws, seems like the pot is calling the kettle black.

[shelbs]

This post infuriated me. She's obviously angry and this pushed her to categorize all new nurses as ignorant. If she was level headed, she may have realized that this is a poor assumption. She may have had some run-ins with ignorant novice nurses but that does not speak for our entire new graduate society. I myself am fairly new (1 1/2 years) and I know better than to skip a head to toe assessment or skip any patient care. You have "veteran" nurses that make mistakes as well so I don't see where she gets the idea it's only new nurses. I've personally worked with a nurse with 10 years experience on a med surg unit but when she came into LTC, had absolutely no idea how to do an enteral feeding. She assumed she had been doing it correctly until state came in and witnessed her pushing a gravity feeding. Nurses of all ages can and will make mistakes; let's not categorize an entire group of new nurses as being ignorant, let's take this as a lesson to teach that veteran nurses should rather hold us under their wing and teach us there immense knowledge rather than eating us alive.

[dishes, BSN, RN]

@shelbs, If she was level headed she would not have vented on social media.

[shelbs]

That to me is a given, dishes. I was simply touching on the subject matter in the post. I've always been aware of the repercussions of putting your dirty laundry on Facebook. If anything, I would have excluded all personal information and derogatory remarks and opened a discussion on how to avoid situations like this where patient care is compromised.

[geebs, BSN, RN]

My surprise is not only her sweeping judgement of novice nurses but the fact that her profile is completely public and blasting all of that vile language out there ! I think it's awful that her sister received such poor care but I would approach this much differently if you want people to respond to you and take you seriously.

[dishes, BSN, RN]

She knows there are proper channels to go through when patients or families have concerns about nursing care, if she cannot control her emotions enough to go through the proper channels, she is too much of an emotional thinker to be in the position of DON. If her facebook rant is brought to the attention of her bosses they will realize she is a loose cannon.

[NICUNurseEliz]

I feel like she would have had gotten a better response if she had more calmly approached the nurse taking care of her SIL instead of "clawing" at the bandage and "demanding" a pair of bandage scissors. I understand the urgency she felt, but she should not touch any equipment (like when she ripped off the BP cuff) or run around interrogating the staff. She's the "Oh, I'm an RN" family member that many of us hate dealing with.

Also, it sounds like she had just come to the hospital for the first time since her SIL was admitted. She has no idea what the previous nurses' experience level were and I'm sure there were many involved with her case. A ~1 year nurse could have taken the patient from a nurse with 20 years of experience who missed the pressure dressing. Where I work, we had an issue when a nurse with 30+ years of experience did not noticed that a baby's hand was turning dusky from an art line until the whole hand became necrotic. It was spotted by the night nurse with less than two years experience. The real issue is lack of paying attention and not completing a full assessment, not really experience level.